On Miami Trip, Bush Team Addresses Storm Readiness

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

Published: August 1, 2006

As the peak of the tropical storm season approaches, President Bush sought to assure the nation on Monday that his administration had learned the lessons of Hurricane Katrina and was ready to handle another epic natural disaster.

But Mr. Bush sent the message with pictures, not words.

In a daylong visit to Miami that the White House said was intended to spotlight ''economic growth and hurricane preparedness,'' Mr. Bush visited the National Hurricane Center, chatting in front of the cameras with scientists who track tropical storms but not taking any questions.

In remarks to reporters and in a separate speech at the Port of Miami, the president made no formal mention of storm preparations, leaving it to the new director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, R. David Paulison, and the White House press secretary, Tony Snow, to convey the readiness message.

''People have learned a lot from Katrina in time to draw the lessons,'' Mr. Snow told reporters after the president's speech at the port, which touched on the economy, port security, immigration, free trade and the Middle East.

The White House says it has vastly improved its communications capabilities and has fortified its stockpile of supplies since Hurricane Katrina. The number of disaster assistance employees has doubled to 8,000 from 4,000, and the supply of ready-to-eat meals has increased by 300 percent, to 770 truckloads from 180 before the storm -- enough food, Mr. Paulison said, to feed a million people for a week.

'''I want to make this country proud of FEMA again,'' he said, ''and I think we can do that.''

Aside from the visit to the hurricane center, Mr. Bush's trip to Miami included a breakfast with Cuban-American leaders and a half-hour boat tour of the port facilities aboard the Gannet, a coastal patrol boat flying the United States flag, a blue flag with the presidential seal and the black P.O.W.-M.I.A. flag. Mr. Bush was joined at the breakfast at a bakery in Little Havana by his brother Gov. Jeb Bush.

Resentment lingers here and throughout the Gulf Coast over the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. The director Spike Lee, who has criticized the White House, has made a documentary on the storm, ''When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.'' It is scheduled to be broadcast on HBO in late August, to coincide with the anniversary of the hurricane.

Mr. Snow, the press secretary, said he did not know if the president would watch the film. But Mr. Paulison said he might.

Mr. Paulison, who replaced Michael D. Brown after Mr. Brown's resignation amid public complaints over his performance, said he had been briefing the president regularly on hurricane preparedness. The most recent session was last Friday, he said, and included members of the president's cabinet.

''One of the things I talked about was the chain of command and how we're going to share information,'' he said, adding that the president ''wants to make sure that information flow is going to move like it should move, and not end up like we did with Katrina last year.''

The hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 31, but experts say 80 percent of hurricanes occur during the peak season, which begins in August. At the hurricane center, the president suggested that the busy season would conclude at the end of September, prompting the director, Max Mayfield, to gently correct him.

''Actually, mid-October,'' Mr. Mayfield said.

Photo: President Bush spoke yesterday at a Coast Guard site in Miami and visited the National Hurricane Center. (Photo by Marc Serota/Reuters)